KIEV, Ukraine – The old woman hawking cigarettes on Kiev’s main downtown street likely never heard the phrase linked to an American brand: “You’ve come a long way, baby.”
She and others with bright coloured shawls on their heads sell their smokes, flowers, vegetables and berries on the streets well into the evening chill.
Cigarettes here are among the cheapest in Europe. A pack of Marlboros costs about 90 cents. It’s hard to know if she’s making a living.
There are a few men selling knick-knacks and cheap souvenirs, but women dominate the street kiosks.
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They are also most often the ones sitting beside the road in small villages offering produce from their yards.
Women have long outnumbered men in Ukraine, both in urban and rural areas.
According to 2005 statistics, women accounted for 54 percent of the population. Their life expectancy of 73 years compares to 61 for men.
Yet their rate of unemployment is higher and their wages are lower.
Women represent about 40 percent of workers in agriculture and forestry. Their earnings are about 75 percent of their male counterparts.
After independence and land reform, many Ukrainian women obtained their own land and can call themselves farmers.
Larysa Tykhonenko, who works with the Canada-Ukraine Grain Project in Kiev, said women farmers have formed a national association to work on their own behalf.
“It united women who are the decision makers,” she said. “They are the head of the farm.”
She said the project, which is working to upgrade Ukrainian grain quality standards and obtain better credit facilities for all farmers, incorporates gender equality issues into its everyday activities.
It monitored the attendance of women at its seminars. Typically, women accounted for 10 percent of participants but that has risen to 20 to 24 percent, she said.
“Women are very much interested in new technologies,” Tykhonenko said.
They also need better access to market information and credit.
Her project is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, which requires a gender equality component.
Valerie Tkachenko heads the Facility for Agricultural Reform and Modernization in Kiev, also a CIDA project. She said between five and 10 percent of the funds allocated for a project are spent on gender issues.
She said women farmers would like to attend seminars and workshops but are often unable to because they are responsible for child care.
A 10-year-old study showed that while women and men were equally responsible for farm duties, including livestock care and growing crops, women still performed the majority of the cooking, cleaning and laundry.
Tykhonenko added that a series of seminars about inheritance and how to become a farm owner and manager was popular with women. The project has also worked with the National Rural Women Council in Ukraine to promote small business development in rural areas.
